Winds of change

From looking at the pictures that have come in from Galveston, I have become very empathetic to what those Texans are going through as they prepare to enter the island for the first time in two weeks. Ike's path of destruction was a huge column of storm surge that flattened almost everything in its path. As a victim of the flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina, I am grateful that I did not suffer the kind of damage they have sustained. I lost a lot, but at least I had a home to which I could eventually return. The residents of Galveston have little more than rubble awaiting their return. Besides, in the case of Katrina the flooding was manmade and, therefore, not strictly a natural disaster like Hurricane Ike. The people of Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes reeling from Gustav also were hit by Ike's storm surges, but they are resilient and are busy making plans to come back stronger than ever. On my way back home from the recent evacuation from Hurricane Gustav, I thought I would get off the I-59 and check out if Middendorf's Restaurant was open. Middendorf's is a well-known restaurant that has been open in Pass Manchac for over 70 years. Sadly, the restaurant was closed during the evacuation, so I got back on the interstate and drove home figuring I would be back sometime in the near future. The next day I packed for the trip to Alaska and was onboard the M/S Volendam a few days later when Hurricane Ike's storm surge pushed storm surge onto the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain and, unfortunately, inundated Pass Manchac. Middendorf's was so badly flooded that its owners have decided to tear it down, another legendary Louisiana victim of a hurricane. It's a shame, but I hope they will resolve to rebuild.

Speaking of legends: Cynthia Dettelbach, the legendary editor of the Cleveland Jewish News and Rob Certner, the CEO of the newspaper, both announced their retirement from their positions this past Friday (link to article). "Cindy," as many of her staffers know her, has been the editor of the paper for the past 28 years and has worked there for the past 30 years. Rob has put in almost 11 years of dedicated service to the paper as the CEO and I owe both him and Cindy my heartfelt thanks for allowing me the opportunity to write for the paper as as staff reporter as well as to handle a host of computer support work as the web producer and IT adviser. Michael Bennett, the present publisher of the Cleveland Jewish News, will assume the additional title of editor next year, when Cindy departs the paper for good. Bennett, who came to the CJN after working with the Cleveland JCC and the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, logged a number of years as a reporter with the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He was named as publisher about 15 months ago. No news on Rob Certner's plans, but I am certain he will be doing something important after he leaves the paper. He was the finance director of the City of Cleveland Heights for many 12 years before assuming his original position of general manager of the CJN in 1998. A few years back his role at the paper was updated to a business model in which he served as CEO and Cindy took on the position of executive vice-president. He recently served a one-year term as president of the American Jewish Press Association. I wish both Cindy and Rob the very best of success in their future endeavors and wish good luck to Bennett in his new duties.

Breathing a sigh of relief

Sometime yesterday I went from major hurricane mode and consideration of having to evacuate a second time to being able to breathe a sigh of relief and relax for the first time in a week. Frankly, the prospect of being able to enjoy the weather for the first time since Gustav came roaring into town, is much appreciated. I began to think about Hurricane Betsy, the 43rd anniversary of which was this past week. Hurricane Betsy was the first storm that taught me the magnitude of what a hurricane could do and it gave me insight into how dangerous these storms could be. My mom and dad flew over the hurricane as they journeyed to Guatemala and the Yucatan Peninsula for a two-week vacation. They literally flew over Betsy and came back just after essential services had been restored. My housekeeper Victoria was in charge of taking care of my sister and me and we had no electricity for most of that fortnight. Many storms have come and gone in the intervening decades, but I always respected them after Betsy, even when they were just at tropical storm strength. Now that Ike has made a more westerly track towards Texas or Mexico and lost most of its power, I am ready to think about more important things like the presidential campaign or the recovery effort going on in Houma or maybe about the onset of fall. In any event I am now ready to keep my mind affixed on any of these events as long as I can keep my attention off tropical storm activities.

I don't like Ike and neither should you

A possible one, two punch from two major hurricanes within a week of each other? That's preposterous. That's ridiculous. That's exactly what could be happening right now. The likelihood that Ike will strike Florida is fairly certain. Experts are suggesting it could be the most powerful storm to strike Florida since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. People in New Orleans will recall two facts. When Hurricane Betsy hit Miami in 1965, it started on a track that eventually hit New Orleans. When Hurricane Andrew struck the southern peninsula of Florida, it followed a similar track. With those historical markers stated, let me now give you my gut feelings. All through the Gustav crisis, I kept eyeing Ike. It developed very quickly and reminded me of Hurricane Camille in how compact and destructive it seemed to be. Because it already is or is about to hit areas devastated by Gustav and Hannah earlier, this storm has the potential to inflict major loss of life in the Caribbean. But closer to home there are several things that are clear. To mount another major evacuation in another few days on the scale of what we went through with Gustav seems unlikely. Like the boy who cried wolf, Mayor Nagin's call for everyone to leave the city for the "mother of all storms" might come back to haunt him. People may reason that nothing happened before, so why not ride out the storm. That's a dangerous assumption and one that police and Homeland Security definitely don't one people to take. Like it or not, a good number of people in Southeast Louisiana don't have the means necessary to evacuate and stay away from their homes for extended periods of time. I am holding my breath a bit on this one. As Ike makes its way towards the Gulf, we'll get a better sense where the storm will eventually make landfall. The forecasters were dead on track for Gustav. Their suggested path of the storm has it in the Gulf by Thursday, a horrifying thought indeed.